As I was making copies of a handout for today’s class, what did I find left in the sheet feeder but a syllabus for a course one of my former TAs is teaching right now? From its descriptions of writing assignments and grading policies to its (probably ignored) directions for How to Write an E-mail to Your Instructor and its draconian admonishments against (oh yes!) plagiarism, what did this syllabus remind me of most, but my syllabus for the first super-mega-jumbo public lecture class I ever taught here? Not quite misty watercolor memories, but, for the first time in a long while, something in the copy room made me smile.
Posted by D.F. on February 4, 2008 at 9:03 pm
This raises an interesting question regarding the ethics of “plagiarising” teaching materials. In my TA training course, we were taught that its perfectly kosher to take the lesson plans of others and pawn them off as your own, and we’re encouraged to use the syllabi of others as “models” for our own. I’ve often swapped lesson plans with other grad students without acknowledgment, but I’ve always felt a bit uneasy about it. However, when running discussion sections, I have no qualms introducing ideas to the class that I’ve “borrowed” from half-remembered undergraduate lectures. Also, I’ve seem professors give lectures that were basically taken from, say, Nancy Armstrong or Stephen Greenblatt, sometimes with and sometimes without acknowledging the source. What’s your take on teaching and the ethics of “borrowing” the materials of others?
Posted by luckyjane on February 4, 2008 at 9:44 pm
My former TA did her undergrad here at JPU, taking multiple classes from the most talented teachers among my colleagues, so, as I said, I was flattered that she chose to borrow my syllabus. In fact, I tell my students to let me know when/if they encounter something in another class that they think would work well in our class. We have in common the goal of teaching them the course material, and there’s no reason to re-invent the wheel. I just tend to anyway because I have a lot of pet peeves (v. the “How to Write an E-mail to Your Instructor” clause), and I care about document design. When I do borrow, I acknowledge my sources.
There is one thing that bothers me: search committees that require syllabi with the initial job application. The last time I was on the market I didn’t apply for those jobs, because I felt like I’d be giving away my intellectual property for nothing, even though I regularly post syllabi on the web.